Around the NHL: Predictions for February 14th

Happy Valentine’s Day, everyone. There are five games today, so let’s go around the NHL for today’s top picks, plays and predictions.

Here are today’s starting goaltenders, courtesy of LeftWingLock.

Play of the Day: Bruins over Red Wings.
The Boston Bruins are 6-0 on the road of late. With a 9-2 loss to the Kings as an extreme outlier, the B’s have won four of their last five games, allowing two goals or fewer in each win. Quality of opponent does matter, as the wins came against Buffalo twice, Minnesota and Winnipeg, but wins are wins and points are points in the tight Eastern Conference.

When the Avalanche bested the Red Wings in a shootout last game, Colorado play-by-play man Mike Haynes said they had “stolen the game away.” He could not have been more right. Detroit was outshooting Colorado at one point 23-5 but just could not buy a goal. They had to play catchup all night, somehow. Semyon Varlamov stopped 43 of 45 shots on goal. Petr Mrazek stopped 19 of 21.

The line has the Bruins listed at +131, which is pretty harsh to a team that is gaining momentum. Though Boston is 0-4 against teams with winning records, they are still second in the Atlantic Division with 66 points, one ahead of the Wings. To insinuate that the Bruins have no chance is harsh. Boston is 5-1 in their last six against the Atlantic Division, after all.

More importantly, the Bruins are 10-1 in their last 11 against Detroit, 5-1 in their last six at the Joe.

Prediction: Take the Bruins to win. Play the under. Rask-Mrazek will be a fun goalie matchup to watch.

The Game to Watch: Flyers vs Rangers.
The last thing that the Philadelphia Flyers want to hear is that their top defenseman is out long-term. That’s the exact announcement that Ron Hextall had to make after yesterday’s game against the Devils. Michael Del Zotto is out, and won’t be back for quite a while.

And wouldn’t you know it, the slumping Flyers now have to go into Madison Square Garden, which has been a house of horrors for them these past few years.

Henrik Lundqvist has dominated the Flyers in his career, with a 30-13-4 record with four shutouts mixed in. At home this year, Lundqvist is 17-3-2. The Rangers are 7-0-2 in their last nine home games. Their last regulation loss at the Garden was a 7-3 rout at the hands of the Capitals.

The Flyers are 1-2-2 in their last five games. They lost in a shootout yesterday against the New Jersey Devils in one of the least exciting games of the year. Neither team got much offense generated until the overtime period, and even in OT the Flyers could not get much going. Of course, that didn’t stop Fantasy God Shayne Gostisbehere from breaking the NHL rookie record for longest point streak at 11 games.

Rick Nash is no closer to joining the Rangers. He is apparently walking, but in a lot of pain. His bone bruise is getting better at a snail’s pace, so New York will have to suffer without him for at least another week or two.

The issue is not offense for the Rangers. They have been held to fewer than two goals just twice since the turn of the calendar year. The issue is preventative defense. Their top pairing of Keith Yandle and Dan Girardi was okay against Los Angeles, but their second pairing of Marc Staal and Kevin Klein was abused, misused and cast aside. One could argue that Staal and Klein had their work cut out for them, going up against Anze Kopitar’s line. To that point: When a team spends top dollar for defense as a “Cup Contender” they have to be able to go up against the best in the league. That’s what alleged shutdown defensemen are for. Staal and Klein are $8.6 million dollars worth of defensemen and they were laughably bad all game. The Rangers will have to choose very carefully the defensive pair they want up against Giroux-Voracek-Simmonds today.

Oh, and Wayne Simmonds will be fighting Tanner Glass today at some point I guess. To get you up to speed, Simmonds concussed Ryan McDonagh last week with a sucker punch. Simmonds was ejected. After Glass (and the rest of the team, for that matter) didn’t do anything in ways of retaliation towards anyone on Philly, Glass announced to the media that he was going to retaliate against the forward today. Better late than never I guess. Simmonds responded by saying, “I’m laughing. I’m going to play a hockey game.”

Prediction: Get your pay-per-view ready for the big fight. Take Simmonds to win the fisticuffs, the Rangers to win the game. Play the under.

Other Game Notes Around the NHL

Blues vs Lightning: The Lightning prevented their first three-game skid of the season on Friday by defeating the Nashville Predators 4-3 in overtime. The St. Louis Blues are coming off a sound thrashing of the Florida Panthers, 4-2.

Jaden Schwartz made his return to the Blues lineup on Friday after missing time with a broken ankle. He tallied a goal and an assist in the Blues’ win over Florida. They will be without Alex Pietrangelo on their blueline, however.

The Lightning will be missing Jason Garrison from their defensive unit as well.

Brian Elliott will get the start against Ben Bishop. Bishop has been surprisingly off his game of late, allowing three or more goals in four of his last five starts. Elliott has done it only three times in his past 10 games.

The Blues have been tightening up their play. Their five goals against Florida were all borne out of crashing the net and generating rebounds. They will have a harder time against a goaltender with a larger frame in Ben Bishop. They will have to force Bishop out of his net and out of his comfort zone if they are to get much past him.

The Bolts will be going for their 10th straight home win. To do so, they will need to best a team that has beaten them in the last four meetings.

Prediction: A fully healthy Jaden Schwartz will cause problems, but the Lightning are just too good on home ice. Take the Bolts to win. Play the under.

Avalanche vs Sabres: I genuinely, sincerely do not understand how the Avalanche get the bounces that they do. They have some incredibly talented players, but Friday’s win against the Red Wings, as detailed above, was yet another instance of Colorado being egregiously outshot, yet hanging on for the win. It confounds logic.

And being outshot is one thing. But 23-5 at one point? 45-21 total? That’s insane puck luck. It isn’t terribly sustainable, but the bottom line is the Avalanche are winning games.

The Buffalo Sabres broke their four-game losing streak with a 6-4 win over the Montreal Canadiens on home ice.

Prediction: The line is not much worth your time, with both teams listed at -105. It’s a wash. But if there is a play to made on this game, take the over, which has hit in seven of eight games for each team lately.